SAN ANTONIO

Entering its fourth year on the market, Hyundai’s Palisade midsize sport-utility has been enhanced with new exterior styling, updated interior elements, and some enhanced technology.
Hyundai introduced its flagship three-row SUV for 2020, featuring seating for seven or eight people, and plenty of cargo space. 
For 2023, Hyundai says the Palisade offers “freshened interior and exterior design cues, new infotainment and safety features, and advanced driver-assistance systems.”
There are five trim levels available, and each level is offered with front- or all-wheel drive.
Prices begin at $35,550 for the base SE model with front-wheel drive; HTRAC all-wheel drive adds $1,900, to make it $37,450.
Other models, in order, are the SEL ($38,550 FWD, $40,450, AWD); XRT ($40,850, FWD; $42,750, AWD); Limited ($47,100, FWD; $49,000, AWD); and Calligraphy ($49,500, FWD; $51,400, AWD).
Outside, the new Palisade comes with new front and rear bumper fascia, front grille, headlights and daytime running lights, a multi-spoke alloy wheel design, and auto-dimming outside mirrors.
Inside the cabin, the changes include a new instrument panel, steering wheel, seating surfaces and materials, gauge cluster and audio interface design.
There’s also a new “ergo-motion” driver’s seat, along with a second-row armrest angle adjuster, heated third-row seats, and, on the top-end Calligraphy model, acoustic-laminated rear door glass.
Other interior features include a 12.3-inch navigation/infotainment screen with 720p resolution; a digital, full-display center rearview mirror; a WiFi hotspot; a digital key (compatible with iPhone and Android); new Bluelink features; enhanced USB-C ports (replacing USB-A ports) for quicker charging; enhanced wireless device charging (from 5 watts to 15 watts); and…

The Nissan Altima midsize sedan, now in its sixth generation, gets a new front-end look for 2023, including a new version of Nissan’s V-motion grille.
There also are four new aluminum-alloy wheel designs; two additional exterior colors, Gray Sky Pearl and Garnett Pearl Metallic; revised instrument-panel trim; and a new dual-stitch interior fabric design for the sporty SR models.
Altima continues to offer a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive options, as well as new safety and convenience features.
For 2023, there are four basic trim levels (down from five for 2022): the base S 2.5 front-wheel drive ($25,290, plus $1,095 freight); SV 2.5 FWD ($26,090); SR 2.5 FWD ($27,490); and the SL 2.5 FWD ($31,990). Gone from the lineup is last year’s top-of-the-line Platinum version.
All-wheel drive can be added to the SV, SR and SL models for $1,500. AWD is not offered on the base S model.
Also available is the special VC-T SR FWD model ($34,990), which is now the top-end version of the Altima. It’s the only one that comes with the 2.0-liter VC-Turbo engine, which delivers 248 horsepower and 273 foot-pounds of torque (when using 93 octane fuel). It has fuel-economy ratings of 25 mpg city/34 highway/29 combined.
The rest of the Altima lineup comes with the normally aspirated 2.5-liter direct-injection four-cylinder engine, rated at 188 horsepower and 180 foot-pounds of torque on front-drive models, and 182 horsepower and 178 foot-pounds of torque with all-wheel drive.
Every Altima comes with Nissan’s Xtronic continuously variable automatic transmission. Steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters are standard on the SR models.
Our test vehicle for this report was the 2023 Altima SR with all-wheel drive. with a base price of $28,990 (plus $1,095 freight). The only…